The Norlin-era Gibson SG Special was nearly identical to the SG Standards of the time, replacing the full-sized humbucking pickups of the Standard model for the newer mini-humbuckers that Gibson acquired in their purchase of the Epiphone factory. While these models did start out with a dot inlay fretboard, this changed to a block inlay pretty early in the run, blurring the lines even further between the Special and the Standard.